Two US Navy amphibious assault ships will arrive at the Keys to help distribute food and evacuate 10,000 people who decided to stay put during the storm.

An aircraft carrier was also due to anchor off Key West to aid in search-and-rescue efforts.

Monroe County Commissioner Heather Carruthers said people had been killed in the archipelago, where nearly 80,000 permanent residents live, apart from one already known fatality.

“We are finding some remains,” she told CNN, but did not have a number, Reuters reported.

Monroe County planned to reopen road access at 7 a.m. for residents and business owners from Key Largo, the main island at the upper end of the chain, as well as the towns of Tavernier and Islamorada farther south, fire officials said.

No timetable for reopening the rest of the Keys was given.

Maria Soto and Michael Perez return home for the first time after seeking shelter in a friend's home when Hurricane Irma passed through the area in Miami Beach, Florida.

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Maria Soto and Michael Perez return home for the first time after seeking shelter in a friend's home when Hurricane Irma passed through the area in Miami Beach, Florida.

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Jennifer Polo and her dogs Maggi (L) and Betsy (R) are back home, waiting for her roommate to open their apartment in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

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Marta Izaguirre, center, along with her neighbors pick up debris during clean-up efforts from Hurricane Irma in the Royal Duke Trailer Park in Miami, Florida.

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Bertin Vialobos uses a machete to cut a fallen tree at the home of Luis Orlando Diaz Herrera during clean-up efforts from Hurricane Irma in the Royal Duke Trailer in Miami, Florida.

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Freddie Hernandez, left, and Bertin Vialobos, right, use machetes to cut up a fallen tree during clean-up efforts from Hurricane Irma in the Royal Duke Trailer in Miami, Florida.

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The Keys are linked by 42 bridges that have to be checked for safety before motorists can be allowed in, officials said. Gov. Rick Scott said the route also needs to be cleared of debris and sand.

Footage of the islands showed homes torn apart by sustained winds of up to 130 mph, which left the Keys without electricity, running water and cellphone service.

“It’s devastating,” Scott said after emerging from a Monday fly-over of the Keys.

“Check with local officials before returning home to make sure you can safely do so,” Scott said Monday. “Don’t think just because this thing passed, you can run home. We’ve got downed power lines all across the state. We’ve got roads that are impassible still across the state. We’ve got debris all over the state.”

Key West resident Laura Keeney was waiting in a Miami hotel until it was safe to return to the island chain and anxious to hear more about her apartment complex.

Her building manager told her there was flooding at her unit, but further updates were hard to come by because power and cellphone service has been down on the island.

“They told me there is definitely water in the downstairs apartment, which is me,” said Keeney, a concierge at the Hyatt in Key West.

Meanwhile, several major airports in Florida that halted passenger operations due to Irma will begin limited service Tuesday, including Miami International, one of the nation’s busiest airports.

Irma was about 100 miles east-southeast of Birmingham, Ala., early Tuesday with maximum sustained winds of 25 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. It has weakened into a post-tropical cyclone and was expected to further fizzle out throughout the day, bringing “generally moderate rain” to a wide area of the Southeast and Tennessee and Ohio valleys, according to the National Weather Service.